Scandia gravel mine is the talk of town

As they have for decades, the Coffee Guys at Meister's Bar and Grill in Scandia gather for coffee twice a day, six days a week.

For $1 a cup -- with unlimited refills -- the dozen or so men can catch up on the latest in Scandia. Talk this week turned to the biggest issue the city has faced since incorporation: the debate over reopening a sand and gravel mine near the St. Croix River.

"You use roads, don't you?" asked George Lindgren, 92, who has been having coffee at Meister's for more than half his life. "We need gravel."

Ted Wariakois, who lives next to a different gravel pit in Scandia, had high praise for his neighbors. "It's better than a hog farm," he said. "There's the beep-beep-beep-beep of the trucks (when they back up). But they're good neighbors. I can't complain."

The debate is heating up as the Scandia City Council prepares to vote on the Tiller Corp. permit application this month.

Tiller, based in Maple Grove, is seeking permission to extract sand and gravel from the 114-acre site, owned by Jim Zavoral. The property, which hasn't been mined since the 1980s, is just east of where Minnesota highways 95 and 97 intersect.

Although the city's planning commission recommended permission be denied, the council is expected to approve the plan. At its Jan. 15 meeting, the council directed city staff to prepare a resolution approving a permit, and to include more than 90 conditions that Tiller must meet.

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Among them are ongoing monitoring of groundwater, traffic, noise and dust, said city administrator Kristina Handt.

Critics say the operation could harm groundwater and the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, increase noise and traffic, and disrupt scenery. Some groups already are discussing plans for a legal challenge after the council votes Feb. 19.

Council member Sally Swanson said she expects the city to be sued regardless of how the council votes.

"I tried my best to look at who's going to have the better case ... because what's going to cost Scandia money in the long run is if we have to defend a lawsuit," Swanson said. "At this point, it's Tiller."

SPEAKING AGAINST IT

Kristin Tuenge, president of Take Action-Conserve Our Scandia, a group formed to oppose the project, said several of her group's members have offered to donate money to pursue legal action. She said no decision on legal action will be made until after the council votes.

Her group is primarily concerned with the three- to five-year mining plan the council has proposed, Tuenge said. The other options Tiller presented were an abbreviated 150-day schedule and a longer five- to 10-year plan.

"We would prefer one year of mining," Tuenge said.

"The shortest time the mine operates would minimize the major concerns ... the truck traffic, the impact on the riverway, the dust and noise pollution, and the length of time that property values would clearly be diminished."

The National Park Service opposes the project, saying mining noise could harm wildlife and recreational enjoyment and that the mining itself could damage geologic features and groundwater. The site shares a boundary with the national riverway.

"When the council makes its decision on this gravel mine, I hope that they keep in mind the great asset -- the St. Croix River -- that borders their community," Chris Stein, superintendent of the riverway, said last week. "On the low side, we estimate that the (riverway) annually helps generate over $5 million to neighboring communities and creates 90 jobs."

Tom Triplett, an attorney and a spokesman for the St. Croix River Association, said the association would suggest stricter conditions for the council to consider before its work session Tuesday, Feb. 12.

"We don't want any mining, but assuming there is going to be some mining, what are the toughest possible conditions that would still permit mining, but be the safest?" he said.

If the council agrees to more stringent conditions, the association could rethink its position on litigation, Triplett said.

"This is a real test of local government in Scandia," Triplett said. "Whatever happens, it's definitely going to stay with people. Whether it will have electoral influence, I'm not sure, but it's something that everybody in town is talking about."

LIMITING IMPACT

Swanson said she and her fellow council members are working to ensure that Tiller be held to the highest standards and that the many conditions they have requested will reduce or eliminate the possibility of substantial impact. "I would lay in front of a truck if I thought they were doing something they weren't supposed to be doing," she said.

Although many people have spoken up to oppose the project, Swanson said she thinks many city residents support the project or don't care.

"I have plenty of people who are saying, 'I'm surprised the council has the balls to approve it,' " she said. "It's easy to just go out and say, Yeah, we don't want it here, but can we really do that based on the criteria?"

Council member Dan Lee said he expects more information to be presented to the council in the next week.

"We are still open to anything coming from either side," Lee said. "I want to assure everybody that we are not leaving a stone unturned in finding out the facts and doing the very best job we can to listen to everybody. We have to make the best decision that we can possibly make because it's very important to us, our town and our people."

If the council OKs its plan, Tiller still must get permits from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Carnelian Marine St. Croix watershed district.

Tiller hopes to begin mining the property by fall, said Mike Caron, director of land-use affairs for the company. The 1 million tons of sand and gravel pulled from the pit would be used to make hot-mix asphalt, he said.

Caron said the site will be in better shape once the mining is complete and the land is restored.

"It's been a long process," he said. "This site has been fully vetted. This project has been fully vetted. We're going to leave the site in a much better landform than it is now."

BATTLING 'NIMBY'

Back at Meister's, Bruce Swenson, another coffee regular and a former member of the city's incorporation committee, commended the council for not giving in to "not-in-my-back-yard" rhetoric.

"The sky isn't falling," Swenson said. "It's like so many things that come up controversial about this kind of thing: 'Don't put it in my back yard. Put it in someone else's back yard, because I don't want it here, but I want to use the gravel, and I want to use the cement and I want to use the roads and I want to have the things that the gravel pit will produce, but I don't want it in my back yard.' I don't want a fence on the west end of Scandia, locking everything down so nothing can change here."

Swenson said he trusted the council and city staff to make sure Tiller follows all the rules and regulations.

"I'm sure they're going to watch everything that they do with a big microscope," he said. "And when everything is said and done, the community is going to be better off for it when it's over."